The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-06-11
TARIFF REFORM.

Editor Free Trader: In my several com.
municatiOns essayed 10 show that the
glass industry is not now dependant upon
a protective tariff for Its existence. To do
this II was first necessary to determine
which was cheapest foreign or domestic
labor. Mr.. Trlmble justifies protection be.
cause OF foreign cheap labor-defends 1,
upon the ground OF overwhelming odds
In the scale of wages abroad" But, as we
have seen, the ability of the foreigner to
compete depends upon the labor cost of
foreign production, and not upon the scale
Oflforeign wages; and that, measured by
the cost Of production, which is the only
real test, American labor Is the cheapest of
earth. This "pauper labor dodge is the
entire stock In trade of the protectionist,
and 1t 10 fraud. This stale deception is
the net constantly spread to snare the feet
of labor. To explode protection, is simply
to comprehend 1t. Until then, as In the
past, capital will lie enabled, through It, to
shift the burden of taxation from wealth
to want, and plumber the laborer under pre-
tence of protecting him.
The comparative labor cost Of production
between Europe and America Is question
so vital to this controversy that | may be
pardoned for still longer dwelling upon it,
before making Its application to the glass
Industry. This pauper labor halucination
is the ground and pillar of Mr. Trimble's
argument. He iterates and reiterates that
II Is by means of protective tariff alone
that American workmen have the priv
lege of making these goods, and thereby
save themselves from becoming paupers
like those of Europe" And by these
goods he says, he means those "in which
the element of labor is the chief cost"
But the very reverse of this is the truth.
AS shown by my last article, 1t is only this
class of goods that we are enabled to make,
because of the tariff, and compete with the
world 10 the open market. The largest
line OF our manufactured exports for the
year 1886 was the $l5,0DO,OO0 worth of the
highest priced and finest tools and machin
cry, in which the element of labor is com.
puted to be twenty lime thirtieths of their
entire cost. We sold these goods to the
" pauper labor nations, and after paying
brokerage, freights, insurance and protec-
tive duties (for paupers too must be pro
tected), and still furnished them at a price
which undersold the paupers'" product
in its own market. This was American
labor competing against European pauper
labor in its own market, and it was enabled
to do so successfully, because only about
one -thirtieth of the cost of the exported
machinery was weighted down by tariff
taxation.
The wooden industry furnishes good H.
Illustration of the operation of tariff taxation.
Mr.. Trimble is an American. am an En-.
glishman, for example. We both enter the
wooden industry-he here, l there. We
build factories alike. Mine costs me $780,.
600 in England-his cost him here $780,
900 Senators Frey, Sherman and others
place the difference in cost at a much
greater figure. This excessive cost repre-
sents an accumulation of tariff taxation,
which increases the price of everything,
from the shovel which breaks the sod for
the foundation TO the last touch of the
brush in the finished structure. Protection
.hus hsndicaps every industry in America
before blow is struck In manufacture.
But we are now ready to commence opera
ions, and we go to South America or Au-
'traliasia for our supplies. We each buy
100000 worth of wool Before he can
and his in New York he must pay so per
,ent tariff, or S50,0 900 for the projection of
American industry. Mine is landed in a
British port free of duty. Upon his scour-
ng oils and chemicals he pays duty of
IS to l20 per cent. My comes duty free
Jpon everything that enters into the cost
if his finished product there is tariff taxa
lDIl, duti us mas ucIeosaiiiS Nost hiih iioh
30 to y per cent more than mine. OF
course he cant send a pound of ii into the
,pen market and compete with me. His
protective tariff is an absolute protection to
ne against his competition in the marts of
he world. Not because of high priced
American labor, but because of high priced
American folly, which taxes everything
hat enters into the cost of his finished ar.
icle, and thus limits and connnes his mar.
Iet within his own tariff wallis He sub
nits to taxation for my protection against
lis own competition, and shuts himself out
# nil other markets in the vain hope of Sc
uring TO himself his own. But l, after
supplying the markets of Great Britain
nd the world, find that the tariff here Is
lbout 10 per cent upon my product; find
hat after paying 1t my goods have cost me
10 more than his have cost him, because of
t. therefore pay the duty, vault over his
ari T wall, and make America the slaught-
II market for my surplus, and then with
feared decks begin again the year anew.
This Ia no idle statement-it Is a continued
yer present reality. That our tariff shuts,
ur wooden industry from the open market
8 proved by the fact that last year we did
lot ship as many woolens across the Allan
ic as canary bird could carry in its beak.
That IL dOes NOT secure to the industry our